Thursday, May 03, 2007

A moment of insanity

I've been wrestling with insanity for a little while now. Frustrated by my lifestyle--long hours at the office leaving no time for exercise or play; lunch appointments that often featured hamburgers and french fries--I had been toying with the idea of buying a bike and taking up cycling.

Last night, in a moment of true insanity, I broke down and went in whole hog (as it were): a Trek FX 7.5. I told the guy that was helping me that I felt like I had been dating the idea of doing this and now I was marrying it--might as well spend a ridiculous amount of money to make the commitment stick!

In order to follow through with my commitment (and knowing that my wife was watching me closely), I got up this morning and was out the door at 6:30a, riding my new bike over toward the Katy Trail IN THE RAIN! My plan was to ratchet up my riding, similar to begin to train for a marathon--three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday); the weekdays, starting with 30 minutes of hard riding and Saturday, 60 minutes of more leisurely, distance riding.

The problem is that right near my house, on the way to the trail, is a wicked big hill. It wasn't too bad going to the trail; I had enough energy to conquer it. But on the way back, after riding 6-7 miles in 30 minutes, trying to make it back up the hill about killed me. I had to get off the bike and walk it the last part; and when I got off the bike, my legs wobbled. I collapsed on our family room floor and sucked down three glasses of water.

But I'm committed; I've spent too much money to be otherwise. And so, on Saturday morning, at 7am, you can find me riding my bike toward the City of St. Charles. It just goes to prove that a little learning can make one quite mad.

Dr. Lucas, that is a very nice bicycle and I am sure it will be great for the trail. As far as rails to trials projects go, the Katy Trail is as good as it gets and I am amazed more folks don't use it. The only caution I have to pass along for early am rides is that during the summer that nice wooded section from Greens Bottom/Jungs Station is home to some mongo sized spiders and overnight those monsters actually spin webs across the width of the trail, so the first couple runners or bikers through in the morning end up crashing through some major creepy stuff. No big deal if like the feeling of sticky spider webs and wondering the beast is crawling up your back, but I find it a bit unsettling, especially in the morning. That's why I always like to let a few really early birds do the initial trail blazing in the summer or head towards Wheldon Springs on that open stretch of trail.

Good for you, Sean! Last summer I trained for and completed (all running, no walking) a 5k, here in Nashville. Up to that point in my life, all I had ever run was my big mouth. You can do it! You just have to make a commitment that the heat and humidity are your friends.

Hi Sean - saw the committee report - congrats on being finished! I was wondering if you could answer a question about the report - is that the final version? I ask because it was posted in byfaithonline.com and not on the GA website, and I don't think it is in the commissioner's handbooks for GA. Will there be further revision of the report before GA? Thanks in advance. Also, let me know if you want grammatical comments if there is still time for revision.

The report will be in the commissioners' supplemental package, which they will receive when they show up and register at GA. I suspect that it will be posted soon at the offical PCA GA website. Because the committee worked until, literally, the last day before things needed to go to the printer, we thought that the best way to distribute it quickly was through ByFaithOnline.

That being said, the final version will be the one that GA adopts--there is time to make small editoral corrections that don't affect the substance of the report. If you have things like that, I'd be happy to receive them. Feel free to pass them along--email me through my webpage and I'll respond with my seminary email address.

What a funny post to read and realize it was created the day we went to lunch. Glad, I didn't suggest a burger place. haha

If you are interested in changing any type of diet, I will give a plug for Body For Life. (www.bodyforlife.com)I have dropped around 25 pounds and kept it off by making many of the adjustments that program suggests.

Sean,If you ever end up getting up earlier, look for me on the bridge. I've been walking/running a couple mornings a week, but am usually up and out there by 5:30-5:45. Good luck - perhaps we can keep each other going!!1John B.